Fanspeak Fantasy Football Lessons for Week 10

By Ryan Gerrity

Follow him @RyanGerrity

1. Andre Brown is the answer for the Giants running game

The reports out of the New York Giants camp was that they were going to work in Andre Brown, after a long broken leg absence. If being “worked in” is 30 carries, for 119 yards, and a touchdown than the Giants need to “work in” a lot more players. Peyton Hillis did not see a lot of action after fumbling on his first carry, and Brown proved that he was ready to play. He has been on the “Waiver Wire Pick Ups” last week, and he should continue to get 20+ touches a game.

2. Don’t get distracted by Tavon Austin, Yet…

This week against the Colts, Tavon Austin had his “welcome to the NFL” game, where he had a 98-yard punt return, 2 catches for 138 yards and 2 touchdowns. A lot of owners had Austin on the bench this week because the past 4 weeks he really has not had any impact whatsoever. Do not expect these kind of fantasy points to come from Austin week in and week out, but expect him to be used more often in the offense. He is still just a quality Flex player, for now.

3. Injuries are hurting everyone

Jay Cutler is out for a couple of weeks with the groin injury that is lingering. Arian Foster is done for the year, so try and get Ben Tate on your team if you did not have him as a “handcuff” already. Mike James, running back for the Buccaneers is out indefinitely, wait and see how Brian Leonard and Bobby Rainey do filling in for him in the running game. Aaron Rodgers is still out, and the Packers signed Matt Flynn, who is familiar with their offense, could be a sleeper this week against the Giants.

4. This is not the Ray Rice we are used to seeing

On Sunday, Ray Rice had 18 carries, for 30 yards, a 1.7 yard per carry average. The offensive is struggling, which is not helping Rice, but he is not as explosive as we are used to seeing. The only thing that helped Rice’s fantasy owners this week was the 6 catches, for 26 yards. I expect to see a lot more Bernard Pierce in the backfield for the Ravens the rest of the season.

5. The Saints running backs are fantasy gold!

The running backs for the New Orleans Saints this week had the number 1, 3, and 5 best fantasy running backs in the NFL. Mark Ingram had over 100 yards rushing, Darren Sproles and Pierre Thomas both had fantasy impacts running the ball and catching the ball out of the backfield. It really does not look like anyone is going to stop the Saints offense anytime soon.

6. The Colts’ running game does not exist

Trent Richardson had 5 carries for whopping 2 yards this week! Donald Brown had a better day with 2 carries for -1 yards rushing! It has been a couple of weeks where owners have not been trusting Richardson, but now it is getting harder to start him. After this performance against the Rams defense, its difficult to see any Colts’ running back emerging as a fantasy starter.